<p><a href=”https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150255293874396&amp;set=a.10150237577039396.331629.772254395&amp;type=1&amp;theater”><img alt=”” class=”floatLeft” height=”120″ src=”https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/284162_10150255293874396_772254395_7203014_6087476_n.jpg” width=”160″/></a></p>
<p>Absolutely terrible race. No good, awful, horrible, terrible. All on me; race organization and the other competitiors rocked.</p>
<p>This was an early race; had me up at 6:15AM. Following what I’m dubbing the most stressful work-related week of my life, that’s not a good thing. I was tired, my brain hasn’t been hitting on all cylinders, and that was clear today.</p>
<p>The race started at the typical spot. I found myself somewhere around 10th place up the first hill, and then it all went to shit. On the first lap alone, I crashed six or seven times. Crashes… Not just popping out of the pedals or something that simple… I went down. Some of them hurt. I finished that lap in roughly the same place as I started, having gone back and forth with riders who I was faster than, but could not stay in front of because I couldn’t stay on my bike…. Very frustrating.</p>
<p>Note: This race is about twice as long as the Wednesday ones… Fitness therefore plays a much larger part since most of the beginner field is gassed after about six miles.</p>
<p>Onto the second lap… My confidence was shot, the bike felt like it was handling horribly (front end wouldn’t grip anything)… I very nearly didn’t start this lap, but I’m glad I did. As expected and as usual, my legs pulled me back into the race. I did a much better job simply staying upright, and picked off a handful of folks. I still crashed twice, one of them being pretty bad, but I didn’t lose any places due to either mishap.</p>
<p>I finished the race in 5th place, three minutes behind the first four riders who were clumped together. Had I not crashed that many times, I’m not sure I would have even had that additional three minutes… Despite racing horribly, I think I placed right where I belonged. I’m a bit down on the race as a whole and I’m very sore from hitting the ground that many times, but I got another pint glass to add to the collection so all is not bad.</p>
<p>My next race is a track mile on Wednesday and then NOTHING FOR TWO WEEKS!!! Alaska and Seattle! I so desperately need a vacation… It has come at the perfect time.</p>
<p>[<a href=”http://connect.garmin.com/activity/101383519″>GPS</a>] [<a href=”http://www.ex2adventures.com/tcm-1-race2-results-class-8am-2011.php”>Results</a>] [Pics to come]</p>